TRACES OF A RELIGIOUS BELIEF OF PRIMEVAL MAN. 



139 



but generally figures of animals are carved alone. Dupont 

 thought that the cave-dwellers on the banks of the Lesse were 

 fetish worshippers because he found a solitary mammoth's bone 

 in the cave of Chaleux.* But this was probably a part of a 

 repast. The numerous carvings, however, on the Batons du 

 Command (or sceptres) of the chiefs in Paleolithic times must 

 be interpreted in a different manner. It has been conjectured 

 with great probability that the horses, reindeer, and elephants 

 carved on Palaeolithic relics represent the Totems of the different 

 tribes, and that these animals were worshipped as the guardian 

 spirits of the tribe. Of course there are not only tribal Totems, 

 but family and individual Totems also.f Totemism is widely 

 distributed among the savage tribes of Africa, Australia, and 

 North America, but I cannot discuss its present character and 

 distribution. 



As to the opinion that the carvings of animals on the sceptres 

 and ornaments of Palaeolithic Man represent guardian spirits I 

 cannot do better than quote the words of Sir William Dawson, 

 who says — " I have already stated that the carvings on ivory 

 and bone found in the caves of the Dordogne, in Prance, might 

 be regarded as the Totems of their possessors, the emblems of 

 their guardian manitous. This has a bearing on the significance 

 which we are to attach to the carving supposed to represent the 

 mammoth, found in one of these caves, and which has so often 

 been figured and described as an evidence that Man existed 

 before the disappearance of this animal. That some great 

 warrior or chief of the Palaeolithic Age had the mammoth for 

 his armorial bearing, and for the emblem of his guardian genius. 

 . . . The fishes, reindeer, and mammoths carved on the bone 

 implements of Palaeolithic Man were not merely works of art, 

 undertaken to amuse idle hours. As interpreted by American 

 analogies, they were the sacred Totems of Primeval Hunters and 

 warriors, and some of the rows of dots and scratches, which have 

 been called " tallies," may be the records of offerings made to 

 these guardian spirits, or of successes achieved under their 

 influence^ Mr. W. 0. Borlase also declares that the roving 

 tribes of Northern Europe in prehistoric times worshipped 

 animals, and, like the American Indians carried their figures. § 



* Etude sur les Cavernes des bords de la Lesse et de la Meuse, p. 21. 

 t The best account of Totemism with which I am acquainted is found 

 in the Encyclopedia Britannica, Edition IX, Vol. XXIII, pp. 467-476. 

 % Fossil Man, pp. 275, 265. 

 § The Dolmens of B-eland, Vol. Ill, p. 879. 



